Home court: defended.
Miguel Tabuena successfully ruled the International Series Philippines at the end of the heart-stopping four-round tournament Sunday at the Sta. Elena Golf Club.
The hometown hero swung a seven-under par 65 in the fourth round to finish the tournament on top.
He finished the tourney with 24-under par, three strokes ahead of joint-second golfers Kazuki Higa and Yosuke Higa.
Tabuena, who shared the lead with Sampson Zheng and Sarit Suwannarut with 17-under after three rounds, continued his stellar play in the fourth round.
Tabuena punched in birdies in two of the first three holes, but Zheng, then the nearest competitor, followed suit with birdies in the third and fourth holes.
Both of them also had bogeys in the par-three seventh hole.
The difference, however, was the eagle Tabuena sank in the par-five eighth hole.
Zheng had a birdie in the eighth, which gave the former a one-stroke lead over the latter. He tied things up after a birdie in the 10th hole, but the Filipino also fired a birdie in the 11th.
The Chinese linksman, though, had a bogey in the 12th, which gave Tabuena a two-stroke lead through 12 holes.
This, then, gave Tabuena the separation he needed to grab the win as he kept himself steady through the finish line.
And while Higa, Aaji, Marc Leishman and Sarit Suwannarut tried to close the gap, Tabuena’s steady play, which included birdies in the 15th and 16th holes, as well as pars through the final two holes, was just too difficult to overcome.
Suwannarut and Zheng wound up at joint-fourth with 20-under par, while Leishman was sixth at 19-under.